10.) Eastbound and Down
Season 2 of Eastbound and Down was even funnier than the 1st, and season 1 was pretty damn funny. If you take the most egotistical, sexist, racist, drug-abusing-ist former athlete around, and send him to Mexico for the season, its bound to resort in comedy gold. Kenny Powers is the worst human being to appear on television in a long time (at least the characters from Its Always Sunny TRY not to be so racist, although they rarely succeed), but he is also one of the funniest. The scene in episode 2 where he made his first appearance for the Mexican baseball team while Hulk Hogan's old theme song "Real American" played had me in tears the first time I saw it.
9.) Louie
Louis CK has always been a great stand-up comedian, but I had no idea that he possessed the kind of comic genius it took to come up with Louie. Its really hard to describe the show if you haven't seen it. Each episode is made up of series of short films, sometimes they are outright hilarious (such as in episode 8 when he smokes pot with his neighbor) and sometimes they are darkly disturbing (such as in episode 11 when he has a flashback to an extremely creepy religious lesson from his youth). Just about every episode, though, involves at least 1 scene with Louis involved in a situation so awkward that even The Office has never reached the depths of discomfort exhibited by this show. It is brilliant, brilliant show and I am glad that FX renewed it for a second season.
8.) Fringe
In Fringe's first season, it was a show that I liked, but didn't love. It was trying too hard to be 00's version of the X-Files, trying to find a good balance between building a mythology and having standalone episodes so that they could please diehard fans and attract casual viewers as well. Usually, all that strategy does is fail to satisfy both types of viewers. Last season, Fringe decided to scrap that and go full tilt into the mythology. While that hasn't helped its ratings, it has allowed them to craft a fantastic sci-fi narrative and bump this up into "love" territory for me.
I am a sucker for alternate Earth stories and multiple versions of the same characters (one of the first comic books I ever remember owning was a team-up story with the Justice League and the Justice Society featuring alternate versions of The Flash, Green Lantern, Superman, etc.), so the conflict between the 2 Earths storyline was right up my alley. This season, the decision to switch the Olivias has made for some great storytelling and I am really anxious to see where the story goes next when new episodes start in January.
7.) 30 Rock
30 rock dropped off a little bit last year, but that was mostly earlier in the season. The end of the season really picked up the quality back to its higher levels and that resurgence has continued over until the current season. The Jack Donaghy-Liz Lemon relationship is one of my favorite on TV. Her goofy liberalism vs. his raging capitalism make for a great dynamic week after week.
6.) Boardwalk Empire
Boardwalk Empire is a fitting addition to the history of great dramas from HBO. The premier was directed by Martin Scorsese, and the rest of the episodes followed with the same Scorsese style. Its the story of Atlantic City at the onset of Prohibition, with all of the corruption and mob activity that came along with it. Boardwalk Empire mixes real and fictional characters into a fantastic tale about how much badness you are willing to let into your life in order to get what you want. Steve Buscemi gives a great portrayal of Nucky Thompson, the man who pulls all the strings in Atlantic City and is being forced to cross the line from mere corrupt politician to full on gangster in order to keep that position. The season finale has set things up for season 2 so well that I cannot remember when I was anticipating the next season of a show as much.
5.) Lost
I know that the finale of lost left many people either let down or angry. I was not one of them. Even if it wasn't as satisfying as it could have been, I didn't let it ruin my appreciation of its awesome final season (it did not effect me nearly as much as the finale of Battlestar Galactica did - I was extremely angry at the end of that one for how crappy it was). The finale notwithstanding, I thought the final season was extremely well done, giving you some more of the history of the island (the episode that told Richard Alpert's tale was one of the best the show had ever done), wrapping up things in our current time while at the same time showing an alternate story (of course I would be all over that) with our characters that kept you guessing. I read many complaints online that the finale ruined the entire show for some people, in that they could never go back and re-watch it knowing that so many of the mysteries would go unsolved. I think that is nonsense. I can't wait to go back and once again watch one of my favorite shows of all time and let it carry me along on that roller coaster again.
4.) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
This is a show that many people have been telling me I need to see for years. Finally, this summer Comedy Central aired it for a few weeks and allowed me to check it out. Needless to say, I was instantly hooked. I was glad that I was able to get into it before Season 6 started this fall, as this season was particularly strong. Sweet Dee having a baby was the perfect wrinkle to change things up this year, and the resolution in the season finale, involving a drug-fueled Paternity party with all Dee's past conquests and Frank's bridge people (a fantastic addition to the odd supporting cast employed by this show) and a transvestite was pure Sunny craziness. I recently got the entire series on DVD so I can go back and fill in the gaps on what episodes I have not seen, and Sunny has been added to the list, along with Arrested Development and The Office, for shows that I thrown on every once in a while for a re-watch when I need a good laugh.
3.) Community
In its second season, I think Community has evolved into the most consistently funny show currently on television (although, it only holds that title because the next show on my countdown isn't on TV right now - well done NBC). They have established the right mix of crazy, pop culture reference-heavy episodes (like this season's zombie-themed Halloween episode) and episodes about the relationship between the main characters (like the episode early in this season where Jeff went back to visit his old law firm), and sometimes both types in the same episode. This is only possible because of how richly the show's creators have developed the 7 main characters over the course of its' season and a half. An episode can feature any combination of the characters as the main focus, and the quality of humor and sentimentality is just as high. A great show that more people need to be watching.
2.) Parks & Recreation
You ca take that last line about Community and it applies double for Parks & Rec, as NBC held off on it through the entire fall season for Outsourced (UGH) because of its poor ratings last season. It is a complete travesty that no one is watching this show. Hopefully, when it gets the post-Office timeslot in January, more people will discover this fantastic comedy. It started out as too much of a clone of The Office, but they wisely decided in Season 2 to tweak Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope character from a female Michael Scott (loathed by all) to someone that her co-workers actually like, and want to help when she comes up with her crazy schemes. It was a needed change that allowed Parks & Rec to grow on its own. Also, Ron Swanson is one of my favorite characters on TV - a government manager who thinks that all government should be privatized. He is comedy gold.
1.) Mad Men
Once again, Mad Men hit it completely out of the park this season. Don Draper's slowly deteriorating life has made for fascinating television. The seventh episode, "The Suitcase" was the culmination of everything that has gone on between Don and Peggy since the beginning of season 1 and one of the best hours of television that I have ever seen. The decision to start fresh with a brand new add agency was a gamble, and it completely paid off by allowing for a much wider range of story possibilities than if they had kept with the status quo. Simply the best show on TV.
Honorable mention:
Walking Dead (A good start to the series, but with only 6 episodes, there is plenty of room for growth)
Sherlock (A BBC updating of the Sherlock Holmes story to a modern setting. At only 3 episodes, too short to make the list but it was still excellent)
The Venture Brothers (Another solid season)
Futurerama (I was never that big of a Futurama fan during its last run, but I found the new episodes to be very funny)
30 for 30 (An excellent documentary series from ESPN)
The Office (The quality has dropped way off in the last 2 seasons, but still pretty humorous)
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret(This British series staring David Cross and Will Arnet, shown on IFC, was ridiculously absurd, usually uncomfortable to watch, and ofter very funny)
Ineligible: - Breaking Bad, Pacific, Archer
These 3 series would have been under serious consideration for the list (and in the case of Breaking Bad would have been very near the top), but I was not current on them at the time I wrote the list. I am mostly done with The Pacific (HBO's follow up to Band of Brothers) and Archer (a hilarious Adult swim-esque spy comedy from FX), but I am an entire season behind on Breaking Bad. However, AMC is going to be running all episodes of it Wednesday nights staring in January, so I can catch up eventually on Season 3 before the new season starts next year. If you haven't seen it, set your DVR's as it is a fantastic show.
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